Dimitri's POV
by D.L.Belikova
Summary: Vampire Academy in Dimitri's POV
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I was standing less than thirty feet away. I was tall enough that I could see in through the second story window. A faint light shone, and a girl with long, dark hair stood up. She was a dhampirs like me; obviously not the princess. She was undeniably beautiful, but the problem was, I've been sent here to bring her back to the academy. Rose Hathaway.

She leaned over the opposite bed, and I could just barely make out the words she was saying through the slight gap in the window. There was another girl in there, kicking and screaming.

"Liss. Liss, wake up." She whispered.

"Andre. Oh, god." The other girl moaned. She sat up and Rose hugged her. She had long blond hair. This girl was Moroi. This was the other girl I had been sent for. Princess Vasilisa Dragomir. The last in her line. The youngest princess alive.

Rose stroked here hair and whispered, "It's okay. Everything's okay."

"I had that dream."

"Yeah, I know." What does that mean? How could she have known what the Princess was dreaming? Unless… no. that hasn't happened in centuries. They couldn't have a bond. No, I decided. That was impossible.

They sat there for a while, in total silence. A cat came and sat on Vasilisa's lap after a few minutes, then jumped up into the open window.

"When did we last do a feeding?" I heard Rose whisper.

"You were busy. I didn't want to…" What? Was Rose feeding the Princess?

"Screw that," she said, leaning back and shaking her hair out of the way. "Come on. Let's do this."

"Rose…"

"Come _on_. It'll make you feel better."

The Princess moved in towards her, and then I watched as, without any more hesitation, she bit into the dhampir girl's neck. So that's how she was surviving. No one back at the academy could figure out how she was still alive, but her name was on the school's system in Portland, so she had to be. I mean, who else in the U.S. would have a name like Vasilisa Dragomir. And that Dragomir was one of the twelve royal families, it had to be her. It all made sense. And when she was done, she sat up as Rose lay down.

"You okay?" she asked. I could tell how much it hurt her to feed from her best friend, but she really didn't have another choice. The only other option was to compel people into forgetting that they'd just been bitten by a vampire. And there was never a certain chance that the compulsion would work. So this really did make sense.

"I…yeah. I just need to sleep it off. I'm fine." I heard Rose whisper.

Vasilisa watched her friend for a few moments more saying, "I'm going to go get you something to eat." She walked out of the door.

"You don't know what you're missing." Was she talking to me? Had she seen me? That was when I realised she was talking to the cat, who was still sitting on the window ledge.

The cat crouched and puffed out its fur. A reaction to me I supposed; cats don't like dhampirs. Rose sat up and then stood. She waited for a second before coming over, as if to check her balance. When she did walk over to the window, she looked right out and stared me straight in the eye. She jerked back in surprise and the cat moved away from her. I stepped back and went to tell the others where they were. The twelve best guardians from the school had come.

"They're staying in that house, just there." I informed the others as I pointed out the house.

"How do you know?" the guardians were all wondering the same thing, but only one of them spoke up. "Have you _seen_ them?" he asked, obviously doubting me.

"Yes, actually, I have." Okay, they weren't expecting that. "Princess Dragomir is feeding from Rose Hathaway." I informed them. There were shocked murmurs coming from the others. They hadn't been expecting that either. This was shocking news. This is what blood whores did. They let Moroi drink from them during sex. Now, I doubted that these two girls were having sex, but they obviously had a very close relationship, for the Hathaway girl to let Vasilisa drink from her. She had to know what people would think if they found out.

We heard them running and decided to split up. They came running down the street, and I stepped in their way. Rose stared at me, and her eyes widened as she took in my appearance. As she realised that I was the one watching her earlier, her eyes narrowed. As the other guardians came and gathered around us, but keeping their distance, she took a step back, as if she were bracing herself against the Moroi girl...

...which I soon realised she was.

"Leave her alone. Don't touch her," she growled

I held up my hands to show that I meant no harm. I stepped forwards as I said, "I'm not going to—" and Rose leapt at me.

She didn't do a very good job, seeing as it's been about two years since she practised fighting; since she ran away from St. Vladimir's. As she threw herself at me, I acted on instinct and pushed her away. She went flying, and I just managed to catch her as she fell towards the concrete. As I caught her, her hair fell from her neck and the bite mark was clear. The two little wounds on her neck were still bleeding sluggish. She obviously didn't realise what I was staring at. Then she lifted a hand to her neck and looked at the blood on her fingers, apparently realising that she had just been bitten. She stood up and glared at me and shook her hair out around her shoulders to cover up the wound. Her hair was long, thick, and dark, and so completely covered the mark there.

I looked up and met her gaze. She was stubbornly holding my eyes, staring me down. Then Vasilisa grabbed her hand.

"Rose. Don't." she warned as the dhampir backed up again. Obviously to attempt to attack me. She seemed to slowly see reason and relaxed. Her body sagged in defeat.

I stepped forward again, knowing that she wasn't going to attack again. I turned my attention towards Vasilisa, who was watching me with a curious expression. I swept a bow and explained.

"My name is Dimitri Belikov. I've come to take you back to St. Vladimir's Academy, Princess." Rose glared at me and resigned; she followed after me. Vasilisa hesitates, but after looking around, and then meeting Roses and my gaze, she obliged, too.

I lead them to the SUV we'd brought with us, but we'd picked it up at the rental place at the airport, and we'd managed to get a design exactly the same as the ones at the Academy—two, actually—which was a surprise as they were only brought out a month ago. The new Mercedes SUV.

When the girls walked onto the Academy's jet, they both instinctively sat together, holding their heads close and murmuring so low that none of us could hear what they were saying. The other guardians scattered except for me and one other—Steve—who sat up front with me and the girls.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Take her to the back," I ordered Steve, pointing at Rose. Rose looked at me and then at Steve and stood. He took hold of her arm and escorted her to the back of the plane. "Don't let them talk to each other," I warned him as he started to walk away. "Five minutes together and they'll come up with an escape plan." Not that it'd be a very good one, seeing as we were currently flying over the Rocky Mountains in Montana.

I sat by Vasilisa. She seemed nervous—more nervous than Rose—but that didn't shock me. Rose seemed to be the brains behind their escape; the Princess just seemed to go along with what Rose did.

After about twenty minutes, I looked back and noticed Rose's face. It was blank and staring. She was perfectly still; not even blinking, and barely breathing. I frowned, and pieces started to fall together in my head; how Rose woke up from Vasilisa's dream before the Princess herself did, how Rose calmed down when the Princess held her hand earlier, almost like she was being compelled. They couldn't be _bonded_. That hasn't happened in _centuries_. But then I thought about the stories I'd read. The Moroi always had excellent compulsion, and especially over their bond mates.

It couldn't be. It hasn't happened in so long. That couldn't be it… Could it?

Near the end of the flight, I went to go and talk to Rose. Maybe I'd be able to figure out what was happening here. I swapped seats with Steve and Rose turned away, pointedly ignoring me. I waited a moment before speaking.

"Were you really going to attack all of us?" she just ignored me, staring blankly out the window. "Doing that…protecting her like that—it was very brave." More than brave really. I was the best guardian at the school; I'd already killed six Strigoi, and I'm only twenty-four. That's one for every year since I'd been out of school, and I'd been at the academy for nearly two years; I got a job there only weeks after Rose and Vasilisa ran away. I took a moment to think this through, then said, "_Stupid_, but still brave. "Why did you even try it?"

Rose looked at me like that should be obvious. She brushed her hair out of her face, and for the first time, I got a proper look at her face, without her glaring at me, and I noticed just how beautiful she was.

"Because I'm her guardian." She stated, looking me in the eye levelly. Then she turned back to the window and I left.

When we returned to the airport, we hopped into the actual Academy's SUV's. I drove them to the Academy and Rose gave me the death glare the whole way. It was actually quite funny; every time I looked into the rear-view mirror I nearly choked on laughter. She was so small but she looked so fierce. And her long, thick hair made her face look very small, so she actually looked quite comical.

When I stopped at the gate to talk to the guardian on duty, she noticed that we'd made it back, she looked around, and then went back to glaring at me.

I lead them into the school building and Rose ran up to me.

"Hey, Comrade." What? Did she just call me 'Comrade'? where did that come from?

"You want to talk now?" I asked without looking down.

"Are you taking us to Kirova?" she questioned.

"Headmistress Kirova," I corrected. I didn't mind whether or not I was referred to as Dimitri or Guardian Belikov; to me it didn't matter. But I was supposed to make sure that the students addressed their superiors properly.

"Headmistress. Whatever." Rose, apparently, didn't care, either. I'd heard stories about her. She always had a string of guys following her. And she liked to start fights. And she liked to cause trouble. This really shouldn't shock me. "She's still a self-righteous old bit—" her words died off as she realised where I was leading them: the commons. It was where all Dhampirs and Moroi from the High School campus ate their meals. And it was breakfast time.

I knew that Rose would think of this as cruel, but I knew that everybody was wondering where I'd been for the last three days, and I thought I'd break the news to everyone at once. Also, everyone would know that the girls were back at the same time.

As we entered, the whole commons came to a standstill at once. It was actually quite funny as it was more-or-less simultaneous. Everyone stared at the girls. Rose returned the stares, where as Vasilisa just looked straight ahead, trying to ignore them. Most people just stared, wide eyed, but there were two that didn't. one was Mia Rinaldi—a junior Moroi—and the other was Aaron Szelsky—the princesses ex-boyfriend. I only knew this because of the up-roar caused when they got together about a month after I arrived, and news spreads fast around here. Aaron was staring at the princess dotingly, but Mia was glaring at the two of them with a look almost as vicious as the one Rose was giving me on the way home.

We walked into Kirova's office and I could tell that she was preparing a major rant in her head. Then we heard a voice from the other side of the room. I looked up to see Prince Victor Dashkov.

"Vasilisa." Vasilisa sprang up and ran to him. She threw her arms around his frail body. He was only about forty-five, but looked at least twice that as he had Standovski's disease. Moroi very rarely get sick—and neither do dhampirs—and when they did it was always something serious, and would almost certainly lead to death.

"Uncle," Vasilisa whispered. She was about to cry as she held on tightly to him. He patted her back.

When they pulled away from each other, Kirova motioned for her to sit down, and then everyone noticed Victor shaking. He sat down and took a sip of water, and then he was alright again.

Then Kirova started her rant. It covered literally everything possible, and then some. I shifted in and out of focus. I managed to catch most of it when it turned to Rose, though.

"You, Miss Hathaway, broke the most sacred promise among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a Moroi. It is a great trust. A trust that you violated by selfishly taking the princess away from here.

The Strigoi would love to finish off the Dragomirs; _you _nearly enabled them to do it."

"Rose didn't kidnap me." Vasilisa interrupted her tirade. "I wanted to go. Don't blame her." Kirova started to pace.

"Miss Dragomir, you could have been the one who orchestrated the entire plan for all I know, but it was still _her _responsibility to make sure you didn't carry it out. If she'd done her duty, she would have notified someone. If she'd done her duty, she would have kept you safe."

Oh, no.

Rose practically flew out of her chair. "I did do my duty!" she shouted. It was so loud that Alberta and I both flinched. I decided not to intervene just yet as she wasn't trying to hit anybody just yet...although the look on her face suggested that she would in about two minutes time. Alberta obviously had the same thought as she caught my eye. I nodded agreeing with her. _Get ready_, the look said. _Catch her if she tries anything. _

"I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none of _you_ could do it." She yelled, gesturing around the room. "I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to." She added in an icy tone.

"Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?" Rose bit her lip. "I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you left—aside from the novelty of it, no doubt—was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before you disappeared."

Ah, I thought. I know what this is. Rose entirely destroyed a room with a baseball bat. She smashed everything—including the window—when she got angry one night—and no doubt more than a bit drunk—at a party.

"No, that's not—"

"And that only makes my decision that much easier." Kirova interrupted Rose. "As a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away as soon as possible."

"I…what?" Rose's face dropped. It was obvious how much she wanted to be a guardian when you saw her face right then.

Then Vasilisa stepped in. "You can't do that! She's my guardian."

"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."

"But my parents—"

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave"

"Where are you going to send me?" Rose challenged. Oh, someone, please stop her. "To my mom in Nepal? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send me to my _father_?" and then—God help us all—she said the worst thing she possibly could've: "or maybe you'll send me off to be a blood whore. Try that and we'll be gone by the end of the day," in an icy voice. She'd obviously forgotten about the fading vampire bite mark on her neck.

"Miss Hathaway, you are out of line." Kirova hissed.

I thought they needed some help here, so I stepped in. "They have a bond." Everyone turned to look at me. I looked at Rose, she looked bewildered. "Rose knows what Vasilisa is feeling. Don't you?" I asked. Kirova was caught off guard for a moment. She glanced between me and Rose.

"No…that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries."

"It's obvious. I suspected as soon as I started watching them."

The girls stayed quiet and Rose looked away from my eyes. She has beautiful eyes. Big, dark, and framed by black lashes so thick and long they looked fake.

"That is a gift," Victor murmured suspiciously from his corner. "Arare and wonderful thing."

"The best guardians always had that bond," I added. "in the stories." Although Rose would never be one of the best guardians. To be a good guardian, you have to be invisible, and Rose is just one of those people who attract attention like a magnet. She could be as good a fighter as I and still never be a good guardian. She would never blend into a crowd.

Kirova broke my reverie. "Stories that are centuries old, she exclaimed. Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the academy after everything she's done?"

"She may be wild and disrespectful—" I shrugged "—but if she has potential—" Rose cut me off.

"Wild and disrespectful? Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?" she asked harshly.

"Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now. Her _sanctioned_ guardian."

"You got cheap foreign labour to protect Lissa?" she asked harshly. Well that was rich coming from her. Her mom was Scottish and her dad's some Turkish guy who nobody knows who the hell he is. She actually had the Turkish look herself—black-brown hair, matching eyes, and dark skin—so she was hardly one to talk.

Kirova gestured to Rose. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and _very_ raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian." Actually, no, it wasn't. at least it was _some_ protection from the world.

"So teach her discipline," I suggested. "Classed just started. Put her back into training again."

"Impossible. She'd still be hopelessly behind her peers." Why did this woman hate Rose so much? She can't have been_ that_ bad, could she?

"No, I won't" she interjected.

"Then give her extra training sessions." I suggested.

"Who's going to put in the extra time? You?"

"Well, that's not exactly what I—" she'd caught me off guard there.

"Yes. That's what I thought."

I frowned and looked at the girls. They were both looking at me hopefully and I couldn't help but give in to those beautiful brown eyes.

"Yes. I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra training sessions along with her normal ones."

"And then what? She goes unpunished?"

"Find some other way to punish her." Seriously? That was pretty obvious; even she should've known that in her punishment tirade. "Guardian numbers are too low to risk losing another. A girl in particular." Most female dhampirs go to communities to raise children. These women were commonly known as blood whores.

Blood whores are dhampir women addicted to vampire bites and they let Moroi men drink from them during sex. It was the worst thing a dhampir could possibly do. Of course, most of the women weren't like that. That's just a stereotype. There's actually only a few that do. My whole family are women besides my nephew, Paul. My sisters and Mother all gave blood during sex, but that was more like a one-off. Of course, Viktoria hadn't had any children; she's only sixteen years old, but she probably will give blood when she does.

Victor spoke up then, interrupting my thoughts. "I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending Rose away would be a shame, a waste of talent."

Headmistress Kirova stared out the window for a few seconds, and then when she turned around, Vasilisa met her eyes, and when she spoke, her words were softer than her normal tone.

"Please, Ms. Kirova. Let Rose stay." Her eyes got a sort of glassy look, like when Moroi used compulsion. But that was impossible, seeing as compulsion on a Moroi was more-or-less impossible. Or maybe it's because of the bond. As I mentioned before, bonded Moroi usually had very strong compulsion. Maybe that's what it was.

"If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be: Your continued enrolment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line once, and you're gone. You will attend all classes and required trainings for novices your age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment—before and after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this, and you will be sent…away."

"Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep us apart? Afraid we'll run away again?" she added nodding at Vasilisa. Well, yeah, Rose. That's kind of the point.

"I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you'll recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot to make up for. You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."

_Take it, Rose, just take it. It's the best offer you're going to get, _just take it_!_ I thought desperately looking into her eyes. I hoped she got the message.

Then she said the most sensible thing yet: "Fine. I accept."

_Good girl_, I thought to myself.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After that, Kirova sent the girls straight off to class. When she said this, Rose looked at her like she was crazy, before glaring at her and storming off out of the room. Vasilisa just looked around apologetically before following her out.

"You two stay with Rose," she said to Alberta and I, "take her to the guidance Counsellor for her schedule then to her first class. "Guardian Jonas will escort the Princess to her classes; I've already organised her schedule—he has it on him—and, Guardian Belikov? Would you keep an eye on Hathaway as best you can for today?"

"Yes, I can, Headmistress." I assured her. This would be easy. I probably wouldn't have to do much; Rose stood out like a sore thumb. But not in a bad way, just that she was so different from everyone else—braver, bolder—she couldn't help but stand out.

The three of us walked out the office—Alberta, Jonas, and I—and saw the girls talking secretly, Rose shooting glances at the door to the office every few seconds.

"You need to leave now, Princess." I informed them. Rose glared at me—again—and Vasilisa walked away down the corridor, Jonas following. I swear, the only thing Rose seems to do is glare at me. I motioned at her to follow Alberta and I, and she did, although I'm pretty sure she glared at me the whole time.

When we arrived at the guidance counsellor's office, she slumped down in the chair across from the old Moroi; he had to be at least a hundred years old, but then again, that was normal for a Moroi—they often lived to be over a hundred years old. It took five minutes. He asked her what classes she took in Portland and then scrawled out a schedule for her. I was assigned to her second period class today, but the downside to that was that it was with Guardian Stan Alto, who, from what I have gathered since I've been here; all but did a victory dance when she left.

After Alberta and I had escorted Rose to her first period combat class, Alberta walked straight through the gym towards the guardians building. I stayed behind and Rose seemed uncomfortable until she spotted a Novice staring at her—much like the rest of the dhampirs in the room—and said loudly and grinned.

"Hey, Mason, wipe that drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time." I can't believe she just said that—no, actually I can. In the short time I've known her, I've figured that she seemed to be the sort of person to just say what she was thinking.

The class filled with snorts and snickers and Mason Ashford, one of the better novices in the group, gave her a lopsided smile and said, "This _is _my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session."

Then what she said next shocked me more than anything else she has said or done in the last twenty-four hours.

"Oh yeah? Huh. Well, I guess this is a good time to think about me naked then." She spoke casually, and I wouldn't believe someone with the reputation she had with guys could speak about something like that so casually.

"It's _always_ a good time to think about you naked," Eddie Castile—possibly the best novice I had ever seen—added. Pervert.

I shook my head and walked away murmuring, "Da li postoJi niko u ovoJ školi koJa Je ne vide njene gole, ili su svi momci samo perverznjaka uz dobru maštu?" **(A/N: Is there no one in this school that hasn't seen her naked, or are all the guys just perverts with good imaginations?) **

I sat down towards the other side of the room and listened to the conversations she was having with the other students. To be fair, most of them meant nothing to me. After about ten minutes, just as I was about to tell them to get on with what they were supposed to be doing, a passing guardian—Joe—stuck his head in and told them to get on with it. Mason listed the exercises they were supposed to be covering in the lesson and Rose got an uneasy look. She didn't know any of it. Ha.

After about ten minutes of watching Rose getting beaten up by Mason, it became old. I walked out of the Gym to the guardian building, and sitting in the lounge were my two least favourite guardians: Tom and Joe. Just as I was about to turn and walk back out, Tom spoke up.

"Hey, is it true that you got stuck mentoring Hathaway?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, it is. Now I suppose you want to make some joke about it?"

"No, I am," Joe inserted. "What in the world would make you want to put yourself through that torture? I saw her in practise today. There's no way that by tonight she is going to be able to fight you."

"Unless you're planning on killing her anytime soon?" Tom suggested. I actually wasn't planning on teaching her to fight just this soon…well not after seeing her in today's lesson, at least. But I just rolled my eyes and walked out the room only to hear Joe yelling after me.

"Well at least she's hot!" well he had a point there.

* * *

I decided to go spend the rest of the time until first period finished in my room. I decided to read My favourite in Louis L'Amour's book series; it was my favourite and it's been a while since I read it.

I lost track of time and ended up running to Alto's theory class. This is also Rose's theory class. Well. This should be interesting.

Rose walked in and took a seat on the far side of the classroom; I was stood at the back with the other guardians. Stan walked in as soon as all the students were in the classroom and sat down. Stan Alto always looked kind of pissed. He looked extremely pissed when he noticed that Rose was sitting in his classroom.

He walked towards her desk and announced loudly, "What's this? Nobody told me we had a guest speaker here today. Rose Hathaway. What a privilege! How very _generous_ of you to take time out of your busy schedule to come share your knowledge with us."

Rose blushed and her face practically screamed 'Fuck off!' Alto sneered and gestured for her to stand up.

"Well, come on, come on. Don't sit there! Come to the front and help me lecture the class."

"You don't really mean—" She was cut off before she had time to finish her sentence.

"I mean exactly what I say, Hathaway. Go to the front of the class." I actually felt really bad for her now. He was going to thoroughly embarrass Rose in front of all her classmates, and no doubt, by next period, the word will've spread and the whole secondary campus at least will know what happened. It's a big school, yes, but news spreads faster than the speed of light around here.

Rose stood up and walked to the front of the class and tossed her hair over her shoulders in an attempt to seem bold and fearless, but her eyes showed that she was scared of what exactly Stan was going to do.

"So, Hathaway, enlighten us on your protective techniques." He said cheerfully.

"My…techniques?" she asked nervously. I didn't like where this was heading.

"Of course. Because presumably you must have had some plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took and underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to the constant Strigoi threats."

"We never ran into any Strigoi."

"Obviously, seeing as you're still alive." Stan snickered. He started pacing in front of the class when Rose said nothing. "So, what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night times?"

"Sometimes,"

"_Sometimes_," he mimicked in a high pitched tone, making her sound stupid. I have a gun in my coat; I wonder how much trouble I'd get in if I shot him right now. "Well then, I guess you slept during the day and stayed on duty at night?"

"Err…no."

"No? But that's one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh, wait, you wouldn't know that because you _weren't here._"

"I watched the area whenever we went out." She said, it was so hard to just stand and watch as she tried so hard to prove herself to this man who's hated her since she was about ten.

"Oh? Well that's something. Did you use Carnegies Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?" Rose said nothing. "Ah, so I'm guessing you used the Hathaway-Glance-Around-Whenever-You-Remember-To Method."

"No! That's not true. I watched her. She's still alive isn't she?" Rose exploded.

Stan leaned down to be at her eye-height. "Because you got _lucky_." He said meanly, emphasizing that she wouldn't have been able to fight anything that came along.

"Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there. It's not like we've been taught. It's safer than you guys make it sound." Not quite, but Portland, luckily, is a place where there aren't many Strigoi. That's why she hasn't run into one in the two years she was away.

"Safer?_ Safer_? We are at war with the Strigoi! One of them could walk up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him—and he would barely even break a sweat doing it. You may have more speed and strength than a human or a Moroi, but you are nothing, _nothing_ compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?" oh, no. I knew where he was going with this. She turned to look at me. She looked about to cry.

"Moroi blood."

"What was that? I didn't catch it." Stan asked loudly. Jerk.

"Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger."

"Yes. It does." Alto said with satisfaction. "It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll drink and kill a human or dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality, and they want to do whatever they can to keep that immortality. Desperate Strigoi have attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided Academy's just like this one. "There are Strigoi who have fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And that is why Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough—even with guardians—to protect themselves. Some Moroi don't even see the point of running anymore and are turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear…"

"…so do the dhampirs." She whispered.

"Well," he said, licking his lips, "it looks like you've learned something after all. Now all we have to see is if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester." He sent her back to her seat and continued in with the lesson.

Rose spent the rest of the lesson in her seat—looking rather chagrined, I might add. She also seemed majorly pissed off, which was understandable, considering she had just been humiliated in front of all her classmates.

When the time came for her next lesson came, I decided to go straight back to my room I mean, how much trouble can she cause in a weight lifting class. Then I had a thought: this is Rose Hathaway in a room full of very heavy objects in a place she really doesn't want to be. I walked to the gym to see her laughing and talking with Mason Ashford again. She didn't seem to be having any problems, so I went back to my room, considering it safe now.

At the end of fourth period, I went to find her; lunchtime is the time of day she is most likely to cause trouble. When I saw her, I walked up behind her, quickly falling into step with her. She looked up at me, then went back to staring at the ground.

"I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?" she asked. I thought about chastising her for dropping titles as she always does, but then I realised it would be pointless; she would call people whatever she wanted to, and I would probably always be Comrade.

"Yes." I answered simply.

"And you don't think that was unfair?" she asked, as though she wanted there to be at least one guardian to approve of her taking Vasilisa away.

"Was he right? Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?"

"I kept her alive," she mumbled. I felt so sorry for her right now.

"How did you handle fighting against your classmates today?" that question was mean, and I knew it, I just hadn't considered it until it had slipped out. "If you can't fight against _them_—" she cut me off.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she snapped. It seemed I had hit a nerve there.

"You're strong and fast by nature. You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn't you play any sports while you were gone?" I tried to make her feel better; it didn't really work.

"Sure. Now and then." She shrugged.

"You didn't join any teams?" I pushed. I could just imagine her trying out for the school football team. It seemed like something she would do, considering the little I knew about her.

"Too much work. If I wanted to practise that much, I'd have stayed here." Oh, god, what am I going to do with this girl? She wants to be a guardian, but she doesn't want to train. There is no hope. I looked at her.

"You'll never be able to guard the Princess if you don't hone your skills. You'll always be lacking."

"I'll be able to protect her." She seemed so fierce, so brave, that if I hadn't seen her in practise this morning, I would've believed her. Then I looked at her face; she looked like a kitten wanting to be a lion. So brave and fearless, yet so small and delicate.

"You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know—for your field experience_ or_ after you graduate." I said in a low voice. "No one wants to waste the bon—but no one's going to give her an inadequate guardian, either. If you want to be with her, you're going to have to work for it. You have your lessons. You have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilisa when you graduate—if you can prove you're worthy. I hope you will." And I really did. I think she could be an amazing fighter, and the bond only makes it an idealistic situation.

"Lissa, call her Lissa." She snapped at me. Of everything I just said, that was what she got out of that speech. Lissa. I rolled my eyes and left.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As I walked away, I noticed that Rose was talking to Victor Dashkov. There was something about him that I didn't trust. He'd asked about her facing things down while they were away, and there's nothing wrong with that, but the way he'd said it makes me think he _knew_ that she had.

I left to go to the guardian building for a cup of coffee before my shift in fifteen minutes, but, unfortunately ran into Tom and Joe. There's that plan out the window.

"Hey, Belikov!" Tom called. "So, you tapped that yet?" he asked, walking towards me. "Hathaway," he stated with a "duh" look on his face. "You screwed her yet?"

"She hasn't even been here one day yet. And why would I in the first place?"

"Because she's _hot, _dude!" Joe said, entering the conversation. "Plus, it's not that hard to get her in the sack. She doesn't even need to have been here one day to get a screw." Tom finished.

"You guys are sick." I turned and walked away, hoping to find some peace. I took a spot along the edge of the cafeteria, only to spot what was about to be a catfight, with, of course, Rose in the middle of it. They were in the middle of the commons with a circle surrounding them; I could only see in because I'm so tall. I thought about intervening, but all she did was jerk on the other girl's shoulder and glare for a moment before the girl stormed off, dragging Aaron Szelsky.

The girl walked towards me, and as she got closer, I saw it was Mia. "You're her mentor, right?" she asked me; I nodded. I wasn't shocked that she already knew; gossip spreads like wildfire around here. "Do something about her. She's fricken' crazy!"

"There's not much I can do. She seems to have maxed out the school's punishment system. She's getting the worst punishments there is."

She seemed happy about, but then she got an evil look on her face. "Well, I can always go tell Kirova. She'll be expelled if I do, right?"

"But why did she do that? Did you say something to Vasilisa to make her react in that way?"

Mia blushed. "Well, yes, but—"

"Just be sure to tell the Headmistress what you said to her when you're telling her about what happened." Aaron stayed quiet through the whole exchange, just switching his eyes between our faces.

"Will do, Guardian Belikov. No problem." But she then walked in the opposite direction of Kirova's office. Aaron gave me an apologetic smile as they walked away. I nodded to him, but when I looked up, I saw that Rose and Lissa were nowhere to be seen.

They came back about five minutes later from the feeders room. On instinct, I checked Rose's neck, clarifying it was clean. They grabbed some food and exchanged schedules before sitting down with Natalie Dashkov, Victor's daughter.

I checked my watch and found it was time for my shift. I left and walked the school's perimeter until it was time to go to training with Rose.

I lay on the mat with only Louis L'Amour's company until I realised Rose was over twenty minutes late. I went to look for her.

When I found her, she was talking to the Princess, of course, but looking strangely serious. I approached them to see Lissa looking hurt. As I neared them, I heard the end of their conversation.

"Alright then," Rose said after a few seconds of silence between the two girls. "We'll see how this goes. If anything goes wrong—anything at all—we leave. No arguments."

"Rose?" she looked up at me. "You're late for practise." I nodded towards Lissa. "Princess." I said politely.

As we walked away, Rose seemed unusually quiet. I looked down at her to see she had entirely spaced out—and in the middle of the quad. She stopped walking. Her eyes were wide open, but she had that faraway look she's had on the plane. Was she in Lissa's head?

"Christian Ozera." She whispered. Why was she talking about Christian? I had known him for years; his aunt, Tasha, was my best friend. But I wasn't aware she knew him. Or maybe it was Lissa that'd known him and that's who she was with now. But it didn't seem likely since she was one of the highest ranking royals out there, and he and his aunt were the most disgraced.

His parents had turned Strigoi, and Tasha had fought them off until guardian's had arrived—and she'd received a wicked scar for her efforts. She'd only been thirteen when they'd turned—the same age I'd been when I found out all the things my father had been doing to my mother—and she'd done an amazing job at protecting Christian.

"Asshole," she muttered. I laughed to myself; I was probably right thinking that's where Lissa was, right now. Christian can come off as an asshole most of the time.

But why was Rose talking about him?

When Rose still hadn't snapped out of her trance two minutes later, I leaned down to her height; I was getting worried by now. I shook her shoulders.

"Rose? Rose?" she blinked and came back to herself. She looked around at her surroundings in confusion. "Are you alright?"

"I…yeah. I was…I was with Lissa…" she put a hand to her head as if she was in pain. "I was in her head." She looked back at my face.

"Her…head?" it just didn't seem quite right. I already knew that's where she was; it just sounds strange to hear it said out loud.

"Yeah. It's part of the bond." She explained

"Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she's…" she thought for a moment before adding, "she's not in danger," and I couldn't help but notice that it didn't necessarily mean she was alright. I pushed that thought to one side.

"Can you keep going?" Well that was a stupid question. Of course she'd say no, so she could get out of it, but looking into her eyes now, I thought, maybe, my assumptions about her might be wrong.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I have to admit: I was shocked that she didn't make something up to get out of training, but also quite impressed. By this time, we were in the gym and she left to change out of the jeans and t-shirt she'd been in all day. She came back in less than two minutes wearing sweat pants and a tank top.

"So," she began. Here comes the excuse, I thought. "Since it's my first day back and all, what do you say we skip today's lesson, and I go sleep?" I laughed. She glared at me. "Why is that funny?"

"Oh. You were serious."

"Of course I was! Look, I've been technically awake for _two_ days. Why do we have to start training now. Let me go to bed. It's just one hour." She whined and pouted at me, giving me puppy dog eyes. What she did not know, though, was that I had three sisters and was now thoroughly immune to the powers of puppy dog eyes.

I folded my arms across my chest. "How do you feel right now? After all the training you've done so far?"

"I hurt like hell." She complained.

"You'll feel worse tomorrow."

"So?"

"So, better to jump in now while you feel…not as bad."

She glared at me. Again. "What kind of logic is that." She said it like I was dumb, but I think she knew what I meant. Unless she's dumb, that is. But still, she conceded and followed me to the weight room. I set up all the equipment to a level she could withstand and showed her which ones to do and how many reps. She did as I asked and got to work. I found a chair in a corner and pulled Louis L'Amour from my pocket.

When she'd finished, I demonstrated to her a few cool down stretches.

"How'd you end up as Lissa's guardian? You weren't here a few years ago. Were you even trained at this school?" she questioned. I took a moment to answer. Talking about myself was an activity I rarely engaged in.

"No. I attended one in Siberia."

"Woah. That's got to be the only place worse than Montana." Of course that's what she'd think. I couldn't help the spark of amusement that almost made me chuckle. But it didn't, not when I thought about what I had to say next.

"After I graduated, I was a guardian for a Zeklos Lord. He was killed recently. They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus." I explained. It felt weird to talk about myself so much.

"Did this Lord die on your watch," she asked with a kind of perverse curiosity. And I did answer her. there was something different about her; something that made me want to tell her things about myself. I'd met her only yesterday and now I was discussing things with her that I'd rarely spoken to anyone about.

"No. he was with his other guardian. I was away." She looked at me for a moment, like she was trying to figure something out.

"Hey," she said switching subjects rapidly to something with a slightly lighter air. "Did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that."

"You're complimenting me on that?" I said, arching my eyebrow.

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better that the last one they tried."

"Last one?" I queried. I wasn't aware that there was a last one.

"Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds."

"This was the first time we found you. In Portland."

"Um, I don't think I imagined the psi-hounds. Who else could've sent them? They only answer to Moroi." She must have things mixed up, I thought. But she wasn't, I realised. There was a last one, but the school didn't send it. It was someone else.

"Maybe." I said, hoping she wouldn't question any further. She didn't. We went in different directions and I went to my room. I read for a couple hours before dinner and then afterwards, I went straight to bed. Boring, maybe, but I had been awake longer than Rose and was tired after forty-eight hours of standing, more-or-less.


End file.
